Valerie Eileen Ballard

1939 - 2024

Born July 18, 1939, Valerie Eileen (Brown) Ballard of Fairfax died at home October 8, 2022. She was 83. Born in Brooklyn, NY to parents from Belfast, Ireland and Wallsend, England who were not yet American citizens, Valerie grew up amidst extended family in her maternal grandparent's home in Brooklyn. As a young woman, she spent summers at Jones Beach. She graduated from Eastern High School in Baltimore in 1957, attended Bard-Avon School, and continued to the Maryland Institute of Art where she was a talented fashion illustrator. Later, she was a painter of abstract works and an advocate of Mid-Century Modern style.

In the early1960s she met Richard Ballard, an aerospace engineer at Grumman Aircraft in Bethpage, NY. In April 1962 they married in Baltimore where her parents Eileen Russell and William Ernest Brown were then living. She and Richard moved to Alexandria and, in 1965, to Fairfax, VA where she lived in Mantua for the next 57 years.

In the 1970's, Valerie returned to school. She received a B.A. in Art History from George Mason University in 1981 while working as a manager at Scandinavian Gallery. For over 25 years she was a docent at Gadsby's Tavern Museum and a loyal volunteer at the National Gallery of Art; she was an avid member of the Purceville Garden Club.

Valerie is survived by her daughters, Holly Gardner (Stephen) of Truro, Massachusetts and Victoria Bell (Bryan) of Raleigh, North Carolina; and five grandchildren, Neeko, Quinn, and Jack Gardner, and Lily Sky and Cole Bell. She was predeceased by her husband Richard and her granddaughter Eliza. Her brother Warren Brown died in October 2023.

Interment will be at Arlington National Cemetery on March 7, 2024 at 11 a.m. Arrive to the Administration Building no later than 10:15 a.m. for "Ballard Service." A luncheon at Portofino Restaurant immediately following. Donations in her memory may be made to: Breast Cancer Research Foundation.